Easter- Better Late Than Never

This Easter we got extremely lucky and ALL of our family was able to be together and celebrate!  Even Lauren and Richard worked it out to be home.  It was such a special and fun weekend. We spent the weekend relaxing and hanging out at the lake house.  My sister and I both had Monday and Tuesday off so we got to extend our mini vacation. 

 On Easter morning Lauren, Richard, Ryan, and his girlfriend, Liz, went to church with my parents.  Matt and I went a little later to Matt's families' church. 

 Pretty sad that we are 26 and still get Easter baskets from both parents. This is our basket from Matt's dad. 

 Here are the baskets from my parents. 

My dad enjoying the day with all his kids, best dad in the world!

 My grandmother is visiting for a week or so from Indiana, so she got to enjoy some of the Easter fun. It was fun to be able to spend time with her...she is the funniest grandma in the world!  We started writing down her quotes from the weekend because she was CRACKING us up.  She is just hilarious!

Helping to carve the turkey for Easter lunch

 Ryan enjoying his new hammock with Liz

 Friendly game of Croquet on Sunday afternoon...doesn't that sound so sophisticated? haha!  Trust me, it only looks sophisticated...get all of us together and it can get quite competitive!

 Tiger had to practice his jumping.  He is getting pretty good!

This weekend was full of family and it was such a fun time!   I know I am a few days late, but Happy Easter, I hope you enjoyed our Savior that day and celebrated that He rose from the grave and sits at the right hand of His Father! Praise Jesus, the living King!

Matthew 20:18-19

Bachelorette Weekend in Edisto

This past weekend we celebrated Becca's bachelorette party in Edisto.  Her parents have a beautiful house right on the beach that they so kindly let us crash for the weekend. 

I love Edisto...so peaceful and un-commercialized. 

 It was 60% chance of thunderstorms and rain on Saturday, but we got very lucky and it ended up being hot and sunny pretty much all day.  We got to lay out all day and get some sun!  We took several walks on the beach, too!  Minus the 20 mph winds, it was a perfect day. :)

 Making some bachelorette goodies in the kitchen

 Chocolate covered raspberries might be the best things ever...and thats coming from someone who isn't a big fan of chocolate!

They have the best kitchen table that seats ton of people so we could all eat all our meals together like one big, happy family!   

 The bride and myself!

 I loved getting to meet all of Becca's friends from college and post-college life.  She is so blessed to have some of the sweetest girls in her life!  They made for a very fun weekend!

 Bible study girls with the bride

 There is a beautiful view of the sunset from their back porch, I could get used to that!

 Chelsea, Becca, and Holland- Becca's maids of honor and hostesses for the weekend. 

 They had the house all decked out for the festivities Saturday night!

 Of course there were the typical, embarrassing bachelorette games...what would a bachelorette party be without them?!? 

Only a few more weeks to this girl's big day!  Thank you to Becca for including us in such a fun weekend, we are lucky to have such a wonderful friend in our lives...what a fun time getting to celebrate her!

Happy Little Nest

Spring is in full bloom here at the Cogdills!  

 Beautiful, colorful flowers are everywhere I look!

 I just love all the color this time of year. 

 I look all around my yard and see these gorgeous colors...well almost all around the yard, minus the fact that this is still on the front door...

Pine cones, evergreen, a white dusting to mimic a fresh snow...

You might be asking yourself, WHY in the WORLD does she have this winter wreath on her front door?!?!?

Well, unfortunately I do not have a choice, because I am a believer in family values and keeping a family together, whatever it takes...

These precious little babies have hatched and their nest sits right at the top of our wreath between the door and wreath. 

How could I destroy their sweet little home?

So I suppose it is a sacrifice I have to make for the welfare of this little birdie family.  So while all my neighbors look at me like a slacker who leaves their Christmas decorations up until summer...I just have to remember their sweet little beaks and wait for them to grow up and fly the coop!

Ladybug Club

To give you a little history, when I first moved to South Carolina from Ohio at 9 years of age, it was the summer after the third grade.  So obviously hadn't made any friends yet because it was summer and I was new.  That summer my family joined a church and I began Sunday School.  Well my first two friends were two little girls named Cameron and Jessica.  We hit it off immediately and became fast friends.  Well to make a long story short, many pool parties, vacations, video taped dances and talk shows later we are now all grown up.  In the midst of all the growing up we created one of the most exclusive and long-lasting "clubs" any 9-14 year old girls could create.  We were from that time on known as the Ladybug club.  This was a very serious club with very strict admission requirements and many rules and regulations once you were in.  That may be while there was only the three of us...ha! 

Some good old pictures have surfaced this week because the last of the Ladybug club has gotten hitched.  Jessica married Nick this past weekend, and now all three ladybugs have tied the knot.  This picture was taken in our prime, as if you cannot already tell.  No big deal, we did some rookie modeling at the Limited Too.  Was it really cool to wear the same color head to toe?

A couple of observations from this picture.  Yes, I am wearing an Ahiro Nu Pekkle shirt (and yes I googled how to spell that).  Cameron is indeed sporting an Umbro shirt...classic 5th grade Cameron look. And Jessica you could be sitting more Lady-like. 

Flashforward 13 years and here we are at Cameron's wedding.  We look just a little bit better than the previous picture.  Considering how we started out, we did pretty good for ourselves. 

And like I said, Jessica got married this weekend to Nick.  It was a beautiful ceremony and reception and of course the bride looked beautiful! 

Congratulations to our final Ladybug to get married :)

Variety is the Spice of Life

Since I have had a "smart phone" I have taken a good amount of pictures with it...all being very random.  There is definitely a wide variety of things that I have felt were worthy enough for a pic...some not so sure about, but others...they were maybe picture worthy.  So I thought I would share a very random sampling of what kind of pics are on my phone, in no particular order...

 This is Tiger and his best friends, Samson and Bella, on a walk

 As you have probably gathered from previous posts, Matt LOVES to make Tiger do the craziest things.  Poor dog, he just goes along with it. 

 Conference tag for work

 Pretty flowers from my friend Shannon's wedding this past fall

 Matt's birthday presents that I gave him this past year

 In Charleston its always the same: another day, another flood

 Messing around with the camera settings on my phone

 My cute mama and her birthday present from us

 This picture is actually kinda funny.  Its a true PONY tail! haha...Matt and I thought it was funny at the time!

 The girls just being silly at the James Island Country Park lights' gift shop

 Matt LOVES the McRib...gross, I know.  He took this picture to send to my dad because they share an equal admiration for this McDonald's delicacy. 

This was just taken this past weekend when Lacey and Kathryn were in town.  This was at Red's. 

I guess thats about it for now. Hope I didn't bore you with so many random pictures. Hope you're having a great Wednesday :)